2023-11-02 15:58:08
Celebrities despite themselves represent a danger for many Internet users. Their names are very often exploited by cybercriminals who seek to make us click on malicious links to direct us to risky software and sites.
The McAfee antivirus has just revealed a list of the celebrities most regularly exploited by hackers to create their malware and fraudulent sites and thus trap Internet users. For this year 2023, actors are popular and are very often used to trap the most naive.
To achieve this ranking, McAfee Labs researchers analyze the percentage of sites identified as being at risk when searching for a celebrity’s name. Star of the hit film “Barbie” released this year, Ryan Gosling tops this ranking and is therefore the preferred bait for scammers. The recent explosion in the popularity of the Canadian actor thanks to the film released last July is no stranger to this first place, he who still remains high in trending searches on the Internet.
Proof that cybercriminals are surfing the most fashionable celebrities to trap the public, the two other stars of the blockbuster Margot Robbie (8th) and America Ferrera (10th) appear in the top 10 of this ranking.
Sophisticated scams driven by AI
Starring in “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan, actress Emily Blunt comes in second place in this ranking, just ahead of Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and Kevin Costner, star of the hit series Yellowstone. Elon Musk arrives in sixth position in this ranking.
Highly sought after on the Internet, athletes are frequently used by hackers, like the Argentine footballer Lionel Messi who comes in 18th place, Tom Brady (19th), Stephen Curry (22nd), or even Serena Williams (31st).
This list reflects the rapidly changing landscape of cybersecurity and new IT scams, particularly linked to the emergence of artificial intelligence. According to McAfee researchers, deepfakes are now part of a growing AI trend. “The use of AI to create deepfake content, along with an uptick in cryptocurrency scams, accounts for the majority of malicious content that uses, for example, Elon Musk’s name,” according to McAfee.
“AI has transformed the digital landscape, and cybercriminals can now create very sophisticated scams en masse and what better hook for these than celebrity news. Many of these scam sites are created entirely by AI, which makes them more difficult to recognize as fake,” concludes Steve Grobman, McAfee Chief Technology Officer.
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